- Many positions require a bachelor's degree in a related field
- Employers often require a master's in business administration (MBA) or a master's degree in finance.
- Knowledge of options pricing, bond valuation, and risk management are important.
- The median annual wage of financial analysts was $74,350 in May 2010
- The lowest 10 percent earned less than $44,490
- The top 10 percent earned more than $141,700.
- Financial analysts often work more than 40 hours a week.
- Almost one-third of full-time analysts usually work between 50 and 70 hours a week.
- Recommend individual investments and collections of investments, which are known as portfolios
- Evaluate current and historical dat
- Study economic and business trend
- Study a company's financial statements and analyze commodity prices, sales, costs, expenses, and tax rates to determine a company's value by projecting the company's future earning
- Meet with company officials to gain better insight into the company's prospects and management
- Prepare written reports
- Meet with investors to explain recommendations
- Financial analysts evaluate investment opportunities.
- They work in banks, pension funds, mutual funds, securities firms, insurance companies, and other businesses.
- They are also called securities analysts and investment analysts
- Financial analysts typically start by specializing in a specific investment field
- Some analysts work for the business media and are impartial, falling into neither the buy side nor the sell side.
- There are different types of analysts
- Portfolio managers- supervise a team of analysts and select the mix of products, industries, and regions for their company’s investment portfolio
- Fund managers- work exclusively with hedge funds or mutual funds
- Ratings analysts- evaluate the ability of companies or governments to pay their debts, including bonds
- Risk analysts- evaluate the risk in investment decisions and determine how to manage unpredictability and limit potential losses
- Employment of financial analysts is expected to grow 23 percent from 2010 to 2020
- Faster than the average for all occupations
- Regulatory reform enacted in 2010 should allow the financial industry to grow at a similar pace as in previous decades.
- Financial analysts held about 236,000 jobs in 2010
- Many financial analysts work at large financial institutions based in New York City or other major financial centers
- In 2010, about 46 percent of financial analysts worked in finance and insurance industries.
- They worked primarily for security and commodity brokerages, banks and credit institutions, and insurance carriers.
- Others worked throughout private industry and for government.
- Buy side analysts develop investment strategies for companies that have a lot of money to invest.
- These companies, called institutional investors, include mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, independent money managers, and nonprofit organizations with large endowments, such as some universities.
- Sell side analysts advise financial services sales agents who sell stocks, bonds, and other investments.
- Financial analysts generally focus on trends affecting a specific industry, geographical region, or type of product
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